Atatürk International Peace Prize


The Atatürk International Peace Prize is an award delivered since 1986 to award real people and organizations who have made memorable contributions to world peace in accordance of Kemal Atatürk's quotation, "Peace at Home, Peace in the World". It has been created during the presidency of coup leader Kenan Evren, by the Atatürk Association for Culture Language and History. The award is to be awarded to candidates nominated by members of non-governmental organizations, the Senate of Turkish universities and also the Secretary Generals of the United Nations and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. The President of Turkey as well as the speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey can also present candidates. After the prize was not awarded for 13 years after 2000, in 2013 it was decided to award it only every five years. An award was to be given in 2015, but was no ceremony is documented. The next award is planned to be given in 2020.
YearLaureateComments
1986Joseph Luns, the secretary general of the NATO
1987Richard von Weizsäcker, the president of Germany
1989Takahito Mikasa, Japanese prince and academicIn he was awarded he mentioned that world peace can only be gained after the poverty will be abolished
1990Kenan Evren, the President of TurkeyThat Kenan Evren was awarded with the prize is seen by some as the reason for why Nelson Mandela has not accepted the prize.
1992Nelson Mandela, the president of South AfricaNelson Mandela created an uproar in Turkish society as he has not accepted the prize. Following this decline to accept the prize, the news paper Hürryet published an issue with the headline Ugly African Çirkin Afrikalı)
1995Turkish Red Crescent, a Turkish NGO
1996UNICEF, the children emergency fund of the United Nations
1997Stabilisation Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a peacekeeping force of the NATOFor their achievements in maintaining peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina
1998Bernard Lewis, a researcher at the Princeton UniversityBernard Lewis was awarded for his studies concerning the Armenian Genocide which he denies that it has existed.
1999Heydar Aliyev, the president of AzerbaijanSeveral of his policies were inspired by Atatürk
2000Rauf Denktaş, the president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus